The mixed grass and shrub vegetation known to scientists as desert grassland is common to the basins and valleys that skirt the mountain ranges throughout southwestern North America, extending from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas down through thirteen Mexican states. This variegated ground cover is crucial to life in an arid environment. The Desert Grassland offers the most comprehensive study to date of these flora and the rich biotic communities they support. Leading experts in geography, biology, botany, zoology, and geoscience present new research on the desert grassland and review a vast amount of earlier work. They reveal that present-day grasses once grew in the ice-age forests that existed in these areas before the climate dried and the trees vanished and how the intensity and frequency of fire can influence the plant and animal species of the grassland. They also document how the influence of humans—from Amerindians to contemporary ranchers, public land managers, and real estate developers—has changed the relative abundance of woody and herbaceous species and how the introduction of new plants and domesticated animals to the area has also affected biodiversity. The book concludes with a review of the attempts, both failed and successful, to reestablish plants in desert grasslands affected by overgrazing, drought, and farm abandonment. Meticulously researched and copiously illustrated, The Desert Grassland is a major contribution to ecological literature. For advanced lay readers as well as students and scholars of history, geography, and ecology, it will be a standard reference work for years to come.

Readers will learn about the two main types of grassland biomes, which are tropical grasslands (savannas) and temperate grasslands. The text will focus on the climate, plants, and animals that are found on grasslands around the world. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids is a division of ABDO.

Readers will learn about the four major desert biomes, which are hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold deserts. The text will focus on the climate and the very special plants and animals that are found in deserts around the world. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids is a division of ABDO.

Proceedings of a conf. on the major problems facing grasslands in arid & semi-arid regions of the U.S. & Mexico & to seek solutions to those problems. Grasslands in many parts of the Southwest & northern Mexico are facing serious threats -- from urbanization & subdivision development to spread of invasive plant species to conflicts over grazing policy. Target groups for participation included private landowners, non-profit groups, government agencies, environmental advocates, economists, scientists, etc. Emphasized practical, hands-on mgmt. methods, including time in grasslands managed under a variety of techniques.

This book offers a concise but comprehensive introduction to desert ecology and adopts a strong evolutionary focus. As with other titles in the Biology of Habitats Series, the emphasis in the book is on the organisms that dominate this harsh environment, although theoretical and experimental aspects are also discussed. In this updated second edition, there is a greater focus on the effects of climate change and some of its likely effects on deserts, seeing desertification as among the most serious results of climate change, leading ultimately to the increasing size of arid and semi-arid regions. The Biology of Deserts Second Edition includes a wide range of ecological and evolutionary issues including morphological and physiological adaptations of desert plants and animals, species interactions, the importance of predation and parasitism, food webs, biodiversity, and conservation. It features a balance of plant and animal (both invertebrate and vertebrate) examples, and also emphasizes topical applied issues such as desertification and invasive species. The book concludes by considering the positive aspects of desert conservation. This accessible textbook is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professional ecologists, conservation practitioners, and resource managers working in the field of desert ecology.